Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Why I tried this: I think a co-worker of mine, David, recommended this to me, but my memory is a bit hazy. Shit happens when you drink lots of beer. It was a tripel belgian, a style I haven't touched much of recently, so why not?

Smell: Has a slight hoppy bitterness to the scent, but otherwise is overwhelmingly sweet, mostly from malts and various fruits, such as citrus and berries. Quite pleasant.

Taste: Slight hints of caramel, but heavy on the berries and sweet malts. I could also detect some pear and apple in the taste, but that may be the beer playing tricks on me. Or the alcohol. Had a bit of a yeasty taste to it as well, but this was very mute and a welcome addition.

Overall, I'd probably award this beer a strong quarter full glass. It's a very good example of the belgian tripel style, incorporating heavy amounts of fruits and malts, but quality enough that you can taste almost everything that went into it. The carbonation is a bit high on this one, but I rather enjoyed that. I really can't say anything particularly negative about it, other than it didn't completely floor me. All in all, I would definitely recommend.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Why I tried this: Pumpkinhead is one of those beers that you just know, if you drink beer. It comes around every season, it's cheap, and everyone seems to get it. Well, it's fall time now, and Pumpkinhead has returned. It's been a long time since I've been to WoB, but I was there the other day and saw it on tap. I don't think I've ever had it on tap so I went for it.

Smell: Has a slight spice note to it, coupled with a lightly sweet pumpkin scent and little malts. Overall, pretty weak on the smell.

Taste: The initial taste is that of sweet pumpkin, followed by some fall spices and sweet malts. It's pretty good, but honestly it feels a bit thin, and doesn't really vary from the smell that much, or attempt to do anything different.

Overall, I'm kind of on the fence with Pumpkinhead. On the one hand, I don't mind a lighter, easy to drink beer. On the other, I do love flavor, and this unfortunately lacks a bit. It has the pumpkin taste you expected, but doesn't really deliver enough of it. However, I could drink this beer all day and do enjoy it. For the sake of this review, I'm going to award this beer a half full glass, but don't be scared by that. Definitely give it a try. It's a decent tasting, easy to drink fall beer.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Why I tried this: First off, wow. What a mouthful to say the full title of this beer. Secondly, I decided to try this beer because it had just come in stock at my UCF WoB. I was talking to Kyle and asking for recommendations, and he asked if I was feeling adventurous. I said I was, and this was what returned with him. Was glad to see a stout!

Smell: Very strong roasted malts, some coffee, and sweet chocolates. Strong, like a good imperial stout should be.

Taste: This beer starts off with a plethora of roasted malts, and doesn't stop from there. A hint of coffee kicks in, joined with a bit of aged oak, and lots of sweet chocolates. This beer is thick, and the taste is very powerful. You get a fair amount of carbonation, and the strong taste never lets up, all the way down.

Overall, I'd probably give this beer a quarter glass. It was very good, maybe even good enough for an empty glass, but I think what held it back for me was the extreme taste and thickness of the beer. Don't get me wrong, I love a strong, thick stout, but I don't think I could drink more than one of these in a sitting, which is why I can't quite give it the empty glass award. If you are one of those people that are taste above all else , then this would probably be one of your favorite beers. For the rest of us, we'll just have to be happy knowing that this is a very good beer that you'll want to try at least once.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Why I tried this: Ok, don't laugh. I was pretty drunk and was out with Jon at WOB UCF, and thought it would be a good idea to get the rest of my Mexican beers out of the way on my way to 500. Modelo Especial was the next on the list. I originally wasn't planning on writing a review of it, but while I was drinking and commenting on how it was less bad than the other Mexican beers I had that night, he demanded I post a review.

Smell: I honestly couldn't detect anything. There may have been a very slight hop aroma, but it was probably my imagination. The rest was a weak, garbled mess.

Taste: Ugh. Not much better than the smell. There was a trace of sweet malts, and again a trace of lightly bitter hops. Other than that, it was very watery and light, with no real other flavor to speak of. This beer was meant to be slammed, not enjoyed. The only positive part, I suppose, is the lack of the taste. It could have tasted awful, but instead tasted like next to nothing. I guess that's a positive?

I'm just going to go ahead and give this beer a quarter empty glass. There's just no two ways around it: this beer sucks. It's a Mexican beer, and by default that already makes it suck pretty hard. It doesn't do much to improve from that base status. The only time I'd ever drink this again was if I was at a college party playing a drinking game, and it was offered to me as the beer we were going to drink. I would never order this or willingly buy it on my own. But, I guess it could be worse. It could be a Corona.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Why I tried this: As per Paul's recommendations at the UCF World of Beer I have continued to try Sierra Nevada beers and they continue to be great. When I saw that they had an IPA I knew that I had to try it.

Smell: subtle scent of citrus and piney hops.

Taste: Well Sierra Nevada pretty much impressed me again with their IPA, the Torpedo Extra IPA. This beer was pretty hoppy tasting but it was balanced very well with the citrus and sweet flavors. The hop flavor is definitely at the forefront of the flavor but it's nothing that makes the beer too bitter or un-enjoyable. The sweet malt flavor is present yet barely noticeable, pretty much exactly as I prefer it to be in an IPA. The hops and beer as a whole are very crisp and enjoyable.

This is a very good beer and between this and the others I have pretty much decided I love the Sierra Nevada Brewery. This is probably one of the breweries that I really look forward to hopefully one day having a brewery night at World of Beer. This beer receives an empty glass since it is an IPA I will drink again and again. I played pool with my little brother on Monday at Surfers Pub in Cocoa Beach while drinking this beer.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Why I tried this:DID YOU SEE THE NAME OF THIS BEER?!??!!?!? By now you should know I love IPAs! That being said how could I pass on a beer called Hopsecutioner. Especially a "Hopsecutioner" that has some hops laid out on the guillotine. Pretty much enough said, no point going into any more detail.

Smell: citrus scent with some floral in the scent. Slight malt in the scent that seems to round it out and make the hops less pungent.

Taste: Well not quite as hoppy in flavor as I would expect a beer called "hopsecutioner" to be. The hops are there and noticeable but not nearly as strong as I had been hoping for or planning. A bit more of syrupy malty flavor then I would of expected. I didnt detect much of the citrus scent at all in the flavor. The caramel malt flavor blending with the hops rounded this beer out a bit more then I would of wanted. Dont get me wrong I liked this beer, in fact I have a 6 pack of it in my fridge right now, but I would definitely consider it a much more mild IPA.

Overall I would give this beer a rating of a quarter glass left. It is a beer I will enjoy time to time when I go out. This beer had a very good flavor and is enjoyable however I wish the hops were a bit stronger in the flavor and make themselves more pronounced. I would suggest this beer to someone that is interested in trying IPAs before I brought out the big guns of delicious hop tea IPAs.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Why I tried this: Lately I've been finding myself drinking quite a few beers from Cigar City, and minus the Jai Alai (IPA), I've really enjoyed the brews from this company. I had no idea what to get and asked Kyle to surprise me. Happily, he brought back a new Cigar City brew I hadn't tried yet, a scotch ale at that.

Smell: A big whiff of roasted and sweet malts pretty much overwhelm the nostrils. There is also a hint of cherry, which was quite pleasant.

Taste: The roasted malts come through here in full force, but fade to allow a complex sweetness to arise. This sweetness seems to be a mix of malts, toffee, and cherry. On top of this, I also got a bit of yeasty breadiness, which affirmed its ale status. Pretty complex, thick, and damn tasty.

I think this ale deserves an empty glass award. Cigar City has made a scotch ale with all the right ale ingredients, providing a powerfully complex but ultimately delicious blend. The malt and toffee sweetness mix very well with the cherry hints, and the whole brew just screams quality at me. It was a pleasure to drink the entire glass. I can only imagine how much better this must be on tap. Highly recommended if you like ales or just malty beers in general.

Sorry guys, Jeff here. I've been having some major issues with Blogger over the past week, mostly preventing me from being able to log in entirely, so I haven't had a chance to add anything to the site. I know Jon will be back to his regular posting schedule starting today, and now that I've got my issues sorted out (damn broken cookies) I can get back to getting some beer posted up as well.

In other news, I've had some exciting prospects happening in the background over the past couple weeks, which should free up some of my time as well as letting me go out more again, so I should be pumping reviews in the next coming weeks! Stay tuned!

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Why I tried this: Well, if you look at my last 6 or so reviews they are pretty much all IPAs. I really don't know what else to explain here as for why I got another IPA. In this specific instance I thought I hadn't had this one yet, but I had, so maybe that will make the review twice as amazing.

Smell: Hops and a nice outside pine scent. A nice walk in a forest.

Taste: A very smooth IPA, not amazing but it's pretty good. I usually look for a more crisp, strong flavor in an IPA and that's pretty much what this beer was lacking. It still tasted very good and went down really easy. The hop flavor of this beer, like the scent, is more of a floral flavor. There is a slight sweet malt flavor in the background but not anything that sticks out too strongly.

Overall I'd give this beer about a quarter of a glass left. I would probably get this beer again, not just on accident, lol. Though there were some characteristics missing that I look for in an IPA, the Anderson Valley IPA was still very enjoyable. I would probably suggest this beer to someone that was looking for another IPA to try.